


Tantalus and the Pegasus

by nonky



Category: Nancy Drew (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-02-07 09:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21455437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonky/pseuds/nonky
Summary: Owen stroked from her shoulders down to her wrists, giving her a tiny nudge to put her back to the Pegasus. He grinned, and stepped back, taking out his phone and getting a photo of her before she could protest."Like an angel with only one wing," he told her. "Seemed appropriate. You are very beautiful tonight. Maybe I should have brought you here myself."Spoilers for Episode 6.
Relationships: Nancy Drew/ Owen Marvin, Nancy Drew/Ned Nickerson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27
Collections: Nancy Drew TV Series (2019)





	Tantalus and the Pegasus

Owen took her arm down the hallway, smiling in a practiced way that made it feel not as nice as his amusement of her. Nancy had realized too late she should be truly incognito with a wig and a mask, but it was too late to worry. She had seen him escort Bess and Nick outside, and someone else had snagged George as she was trying to disappear into the crowd. 

For a moment, Nancy had known no one at the party other than Ryan Hudson. She didn't think anyone would literally lose a hand, but she wouldn't discount some life-ruining action. Ryan wouldn't be stepping up to claim her as his guest. 

Her own actions were just stupid. She was taking it on faith the coins would help, and it was exponentially more brazen to steal them five minutes after the last attempt failed in front of hundreds of guests. She couldn't seem to stop herself from pushing at obstacles, and going past lines. 

Some of it was the need to help someone else, and some was a perverse stream of intractable character she knew could pass for self-destruction. She had ancient coins in her clutch, and she was being marched back to the dead end room where Lucy Sable had been cornered twenty years earlier. Owen didn't feel dangerous out in the sun, smiling and asking her to dinner. He was capable of a silent mood of intimidation, and his smile fell as they approached the empty room with fewer and fewer people passing on their way back to the party. 

"Owen, it's getting late, and-" she made herself slow down, and sound guilty in an abashed manner. "-I didn't tell my father I was coming here. I have to get home and make sure he doesn't figure it out. There aren't a lot of balls in Horseshoe Bay."

"I just want to talk to you for a minute," he told her, his voice deeper than usual. Maybe in other circumstances she'd call it a bedroom voice, but it was aggressive, too. "We just need a little privacy."

He didn't let go until they were right up against the Pegasus, standing between her and the exit. His grip had never been hurting her, but it would have taken a fight to get free. Owen folded his arms behind his back, and gave her a little look to acknowledge she wasn't happy to be talking with him. 

His show of good intentions didn't help her with her dilemma. There was a lot of security, and Nancy had been counting on walking out with her head up. She'd gotten in by acting like it was a foregone conclusion she'd be welcome, and she knew Ryan wasn't going to show up to escort her similarly to safety. 

"I like you, and your friends. I get the feeling what they were doing tonight isn't that different than my purpose," Owen said quietly. "And I don't want to pin you and make you nervous, but I need to make sure no one listens in or wonders what I'm doing here with a very young woman."

She couldn't help her dubious expression, and he chuckled darkly with a look off to the side. "Okay, no one would wonder what I was doing, but it would look bad since you showed up here with a freshly minted widower selling off family heirlooms. You didn't mean to make an entrance, but you sure as hell did. I know you don't think of yourself as being part of this crowd, but you're on their radar. They know your father, and they recognized you. So people are wondering, but they might be assuming Ryan is just being himself with another young woman."

Nancy straightened her shoulders. If he was talking this much, he wasn't going to turn her in. She could probably get an escort out if she gave up enough of her plan to satisfy him. 

"That's not why I was with Ryan," she said firmly, letting her offense leak out. "I just needed the invitation. I had no idea my friends were going to show up and try to steal right in the middle of the auction."

She could have come up with a much better plan if they'd asked for her help. It would have been simple to wait a day and steal from a private home once the buyer brought the coins home. They were worth a fortune, but even rich people put off going to the bank.

"I believe you, but that does lead to other speculation about you," he said seriously. "Now, I can't walk you out of here like I did with the others. I could make that look like I was trying to shut down a scene and prevent a couple of dumb kids from paying a high price for a badly done hustle to get some valuables. No one talks about these parties, but they see everything. Is there anything to see in your evening?"

"Not really." Ghosts appeared subjectively, and only to the people being haunted. Nancy knew her father seemed immune to her haunting. She had spoken to Nick only briefly, and much longer with Owen. Her arrival with Ryan Hudson was likely what would stick out for people. No one knew she had the clues to link Lucy's death to the party.

"You're really not going to tell me, are you," Owen asked wryly. He seemed a little offended. "Okay, I accept that you haven't known me that long. You can't be sure about me. But you have to leave right away, and I have to make sure people assume what we're doing here has nothing to with our attempted theft."

She lifted a shoulder, a twisted part of her nature finding a hint of fun in the predicament. He'd had to turn his real flirtation into a fake one. 

"So this is all just an act," Nancy replied. "You never wanted to have dinner."

"No, I do want to have dinner, but I don't come on this strong, particularly with the date of another man. So where I might have gone with conversation, I have to make this look like jealousy. It's what the other people at this party would comprehend and discount. Not to overshare, but I know what to do with a beautiful woman. It would look odd if I didn't at least kiss you. I won't take advantage, but that needs to be the wagging of tongues about you at this party."

She crossed her arms, unable to hold back challenging him more directly even if they were supposed to be more than friendly. 

"How convenient."

"Not at all. I didn't expect easy, but I really don't like first kisses to have a timetable this strict. Now, Miss Drew, for the purposes of our shared goals, can I give you a kiss to set the scene for a private matter?"

His real smile dipped in for a moment, eyes beseeching a little cooperation. He really did seem worried about her, and nothing he'd done was half as suspicious as everything she'd asked as favours from him. 

"Yes."

His hands unfolded from behind his back, and he shrugged out of his jacket. Gesturing with his chin for her to turn around, he held it so she could slip it on over her dress. Nancy turned back to him, and they were face to face with inches between them. She had to look up to him, and he was studying her features sweetly. 

"I like your hair like this," he said. 

"Thank you. You look good in a tuxedo."

Owen splayed her arms wide, taking her clutch from her tight grasp, the coins out of her hands for a few tense seconds. He paused to fit it into his jacket pocket, leaning in to kiss under her right eye and whisper coaxingly. 

"You have to look less scared to death of me for this to work. I'm not that bad, am I?"

He wasn't unappealing. His arms were muscular and she could see his shirt form across his chest as he moved. He smelled good, with a masculine edge that was personal and couldn't be bought. His hair fell with dark forms she had imagined slipping fingertips across as he pulled her flush to his body. 

And she had a very nice boyfriend. Nancy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could act appropriately seduced but remind herself she was not available. 

Owen stroked from her shoulders down to her wrists, giving her a tiny nudge to put her back to the Pegasus. He grinned, and stepped back, taking out his phone and getting a photo of her before she could protest.

"Like an angel with only one wing," he told her. "Seemed appropriate. You are very beautiful tonight. Maybe I should have brought you here myself."

But with Nancy on his arm, he wouldn't have been able to step in for Nick, Bess and George. It was for the best Owen wasn't too closely associated with them. 

There was a chance she was taking the evening's disasters in stride only because they had led to a mostly guiltless kiss with him. She licked her lips instead of answering, and felt her expression matched in the way he fixed on her mouth with intensity. 

"I'm not sure I'm working from entirely fake jealousy," Owen said, moving in with an easing lean down to fit himself lightly to her body. 

Her mouth parted and he wasn't shy. The kiss was soft but implacable, lasting and lasting. He finessed his tongue across her teeth, away, and tipped his chin to go deeper. Nancy dropped her arms to go to his sides, holding on to him as her neck relaxed into his cupped palm. 

She was in trouble seconds into it, and it definitely lasted minutes longer. Owen pressed his hips harder against her, and caught himself in the motion. He broke away and gently let go with a regretful look when Nancy opened her eyes. 

"Damn, that was as good as I thought," he said. "And I'd be a slimeball if I went for more from you like this."

She might let him, and Nancy was glad he was a decent man. She was glad they were both being sensible. She had a fortune in coins in her purse, and still had to get past security with them. 

"You're not a slimeball," she told him. "And I should go now."

Owen nodded. "I'm going to put you in my car and you're going to go straight home, please. My heart can't take another rescue tonight. These favours of yours are getting downright strenuous."

She laughed and he stood back a step. "I'm high maintenance in some ways. It's a problem."

"I didn't say I minded," he said. "Do me a favour and wipe your lipstick off me, but don't do too good a job, okay?"

Nancy didn't mean to make a slow, massaging run of her fingertip across his mouth, but that's how it landed. She was blushing, and they weren't really acting anymore. Owen's eyes were lit up with an energy she could feel running through her own veins. 

"Will they want to see my bag as I leave," she asked. 

"They won't know you have one, because you are going to keep my jacket on, and it has my wallet in it. So you're going to set off the metal detectors, but it's my fault. And when I put you in my car, you'll take off the jacket and slip your purse out of the pocket."

She hesitated. "Will you want to see my bag?"

He grinned. "No, you have to do more than a hook up in a storage room to steal my heart," he told her. "Come on. Time for your escape."

There was something about the way he said it that hinted at his own escape. Nancy took the hand he offered and walked with him quickly through the party, out into the night.


End file.
